Bitch Media - Kotexhttp://bitchmagazine.org/taxonomy/term/7425/0
enDon’t Believe in Sex-Ed? Read the Terrifyingly Misinformed Questions Tweens ask Kotex.http://bitchmagazine.org/post/don%E2%80%99t-believe-in-sex-ed-read-the-terrifyingly-misinformed-questions-tweens-ask-kotex
<p class="normal"><img style="float: right; margin-left: 10px; margin-right: 10px;" src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8232/8514432552_f54ecd9459_m.jpg" alt="kotex's &quot;tween&quot; line of pads" width="240" height="159" />Since it debuted in 2011, the U by Kotex brand of pads and tampons (aimed at pre-teens) has made its mark&nbsp;<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lpypeLL1dAs">with funny commercials</a>&nbsp;and frank talk about periods. But recently, Kotex has decided to launch a part of their site that addresses period myths and the general lack of awareness many pre-teens have about their bodies. Their latest campaign, Generation Know, offers a site where girls can anonymously ask questions about periods and get answers from experts, peers, and moms. And holy cow, are these girls misguided.</p>
<p class="normal">I mean...there are no "wrong" questions when it comes to the complexities of the female body, and a lot of the questions are pretty basic (like "what happens during a pelvic exam?"). But some are a truly frightening demonstration of the absolute lack of information that young girls get when it comes to matters of their own health.</p>
<p class="normal">Here is a sampling of the more alarming questions&nbsp;<a href="http://www.ubykotex.com/get-the-facts">from the site</a>:</p>
<p class="normal">"Is it ok to wrap your tampon in toilet paper and then change the paper but not the tampon? Then the tampon lasts longer because it remains dry."</p>
<p class="normal">"Once you are sexually active, do you need to go to the doctor so they can cut a piece of your vagina off?"</p>
<p class="normal">&nbsp;"Do tampons cause cancer?"</p>
<p class="normal">To be fair, the askers aren't required to give their age or any other personal information, so they may be quite young. And tampons are kind of weird and scary, if you've never experienced them or had them explained to you.</p>
<p class="normal">But the questions on Generation Know's site also reflect the lack of salient information that pre-teen and teenage girls get in their sexual education classes, in the home, and from other trusted adults. Many of the questions reflect discomfort or even outright fear about asking parents about periods and the body—and more at least one referenced "Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret" as their only sense of information. Girls shouldn't have to depend on YA literature or a tampon company as their sole sources of comprehensive, medically-correct guides to their own bodies.</p>
<p class="normal">&nbsp;I guess what this reminds me of the most is that sexual education in schools isn't just about learning the perils of sex (although some advocates do believe that&nbsp;<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/20/magazine/teaching-good-sex.html?pagewanted=all" target="_self">pleasure should be part of the sex-ed curriculum</a>&nbsp;for older students), it should include essential information about knowing how to best take care of our bodies. With girls getting their first flow earlier and earlier, it may be time to roll back the age of first information, too, in kid-friendly, easy-to-understand, but accurate ways. So that, you know, girls aren't afraid their doctors are going to slice up their vaginas.&nbsp;</p>
http://bitchmagazine.org/post/don%E2%80%99t-believe-in-sex-ed-read-the-terrifyingly-misinformed-questions-tweens-ask-kotex#commentsKotexmenstruationperiodssex educationSex and SexualityWed, 27 Feb 2013 22:01:41 +0000Hanna Brooks Olsen21596 at http://bitchmagazine.orgMad World: Too Cool for Schoolhttp://bitchmagazine.org/post/mad-world-too-cool-for-school
<p><center><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4038/4454391477_d098ce8097.jpg" /></center></p>
<p>OK, we are all pretty up on the concept of advertising at this point. Not to say that ads don't have an effect on us (they do), but when it comes to the reasoning behind most ad campaigns, we savvy media consumers are hip to what's going on. They're trying to sell us something. We get it. So what do we do with ads that let us "in" on the joke? </p>
<p>Take this Kotex U ad, for example. The woman featured in the ad makes fun of typical tampon advertising, and by doing so she's saying, "We know you're too smart for this stuff, so we won't insult you by employing the usual tactics here." The catch is, <i>this is still an advertisement</i>. The point of the ad is to gain our respect so that we'll spend money on Kotex tampons instead of those other tampons that insult us by using blue liquid to represent period blood. We know this, because the Kotex ad also uses blue liquid to represent period blood, <i>but in an ironic way</i>. Get it? </p>
<object width="640" height="505"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/FRf35wCmzWw&hl=en_US&fs=1&" /><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true" /><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always" /><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/FRf35wCmzWw&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="640" height="505"></embed></object><p>
I am throwing this concept, which I am calling self-aware advertising, out here on the <a href="/blogs/mad-world">Mad World discussion blog</a> because I kind of don't know what to do with it. Should we be glad that organizations who want to sell us stuff are attempting to be funny and "get it", or should we be extra pissed off because we're getting double-hoodwinked? Because the truth here, IMHO, is that companies that use these too-cool-for-school ads are not, as they'd like us to think, pushing any sort of envelope or throwing off the shackles of conventional advertising norms. In fact, they are simply reinforcing them by using tried and true persuasive tactics disguised as edginess. If you get it, then you are cool enough to spend money on the product. Advertising Mission: Accomplished.</p>
<p>Another example (or actually, tons of examples, because this happens just about every other episode of this show) of this inside joke-y tactic can be seen on <i>30 Rock</i>. Behold:</p>
<object width="640" height="505"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/d36wUmJGzvA&hl=en_US&fs=1&" /><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true" /><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always" /><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/d36wUmJGzvA&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="640" height="505"></embed></object><p>
Get it? It's like, Tina Fey knows we're too smart to fall for simple product placements, so she writes them into the script and lets us in on the joke, making the butt of the joke that evil corporate villain Verizon Wireless who is forcing these creative types to shill cell phones. But who's really the butt of the joke here? Two of the three players in this scenario (Verizon, <i>30 Rock</i>, and us) are laughing all the way to the bank. And guess what? We're not a part of that bank-visiting, gut-busting group. The writers at <i>30 Rock</i> know that by using this self-aware technique they can get paid by Verizon and still appear to be subversive. By doing that, they're endearing both themselves (for being so subversive) and Verizon (for being a part of the subversive joke) to us as consumers. So the "subversive" ad results in two gigantic corporations making money by selling a lifestyle concept (the shrewd consumer who "gets it") to a mass audience. How not at all groundbreaking!</p>
<p>The first time I remember seeing this tactic used (and I'd love to hear your examples because I'm just going on memory here) was in this Sprite campaign:</p>
<object width="640" height="505"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/8AdRVjOETjY&hl=en_US&fs=1&" /><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true" /><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always" /><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/8AdRVjOETjY&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="640" height="505"></embed></object><p>
Here, Sprite uses a celebrity spokesperson (Grant Hill) to make fun of the concept of celebrity spokespeople. Again, while masquerading as a refreshingly honest commercial that rejects conventional industry tropes, this ad reinforces the value of a celebrity spokesperson by acting too cool for it while actually just partaking in it (notice how Sprite is the "official drink of the NBA"). The joke is for us, but it is also <i>on</i> us. It's like that friend you have that dresses like a homeless person but lives in a $3,000/month loft in Williamsburg – the authenticity just isn't there.</p>
<p>Still, our foreseeable media future contains a shitload of advertising (not all media outlets are independent like your pal Bitch Media! Booyah!) and so instead of rejecting all advertising messages we are charged with the task of thinking critically about them. Is this style of self-aware advertising better or worse than ads that don't try (or pretend to try) to let consumers behind the scenes? Oh, and be sure to add your own examples of self-aware advertising in the comments section! </p>
<p><img src="/sites/default/files/OH_Logo.jpg" width="146" height="67" alt="OH_Logo.jpg" align=left /> <i>This project was made possible in part by a grant from Oregon Humanities (OH), a statewide nonprofit organization and an independent affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities, which funds OH's grant program. Any views, findings, and conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect the views of Oregon Humanities or the National Endowment for the Humanities.</i> </p>
http://bitchmagazine.org/post/mad-world-too-cool-for-school#comments30 RockadvertisingironyKotexMad Worldself-aware advertisingSpriteVerizonMad WorldTue, 30 Mar 2010 19:18:41 +0000Kelsey Wallace3031 at http://bitchmagazine.orgReproductive Writes: Love Your Vagina Dot Comhttp://bitchmagazine.org/post/reproductive-writes-love-your-vagina-dot-com
<p>In my last <a href= http://bitchmagazine.org/post/reproductive-writes-i-choose-my-choice-an-interview-with-elizabeth-kissling>post</a> I discussed with Elizabeth Kissling the anti-advertising campaign produced by Kotex to promote their neon-bright range of tampons and pads. There has been a delay on these commercials airing due on the use of the word 'vagina' - with some networks asking that it be replaced with the term 'down there.' </p>
<p>Meanwhile in the UK the makers of the <a href=http://www.mooncup.co.uk/>Mooncup</a> have sent out posters to be displayed on the London Underground proclaiming <a href= http://www.loveyourvagina.com/>'Love Your Vagina'</a>. The posters show euphemisms for vagina - such as Lady Garden and <a href= http://www.upliftmagazine.com/uplift/2010/03/love-your-vagina/coochie/>Coochie</a> - with the letters arranged in bold flowers and the web address below directing readers to loveyourvagina.com for more information. The word 'your' is in bold type, I guess to make clear this isn't about loving other people's vaginas and the potential pornography connotations of that. Although I am sure many a man, and woman, is getting home from the commute and plugging that URL in not expecting to see a Mooncup.</p>
<p>U by Kotex - the range promoted by this anti-advertising - has been on sale in <a href= http://www.ubykotex.com.au/>Australia</a> for a long time. It was promoted there by a series of commercials which claimed their tampons and pads to be 'the ultimate care' for 'down there' - and featured a woman giving a gift of U by Kotex tampons to a beaver puppet. The campaign prompted much controversy, even without the word 'vagina' being involved. In response to the complaints a representative said, 'People use euphemisms to make themselves feel more comfortable about talking about their own anatomy. Kotex research found people in the target age group had 181 alternative names for the vagina and 94 per cent said they used nicknames for their own genitals. The term 'beaver' was the 11th-most used by the people surveyed.'</p>
<object width="640" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/mxkUE5TtOFQ&hl=en_US&fs=1&" /><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true" /><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always" /><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/mxkUE5TtOFQ&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="640" height="385"></embed></object>http://bitchmagazine.org/post/reproductive-writes-love-your-vagina-dot-com#commentsKotexLove Your Vaginaloveyourvagina.commenstruationMooncupReproductive Writestamponsthe GuardianSocial CommentaryWed, 24 Mar 2010 18:26:23 +0000Holly Grigg-Spall3005 at http://bitchmagazine.org